Self Employed Hour Calculation - Rather Complex Situation

[guitarman]

Hello all,

Quick question - I've been working as a self employed musician for the past 7 years performing with world class, multiple-Grammy winning artists.

I was wondering how to calculate touring experience for work hours. For example, let's say I'm on tour for a week, does that count as 168 hours?

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Also, I realize that the situation probably isn't that complex - apologies for the drama in the thread title! Couldn't change it after I posted!

 

[navinball]

Should be on your paycheck right? or some kind of contract.

 

[guitarman]

Should be on your paycheck right? or some kind of contract.

I'm usually paid a weekly fee.

 

[navinball]

Self employed individuals need to get letters of reference from their clients. So make sure you draft the letters with the hours in them.

 

[cansha]

Hello all,

Quick question - I've been working as a self employed musician for the past 7 years performing with world class, multiple-Grammy winning artists.

I was wondering how to calculate touring experience for work hours. For example, let's say I'm on tour for a week, does that count as 168 hours?

==============
Also, I realize that the situation probably isn't that complex - apologies for the drama in the thread title! Couldn't change it after I posted!

So just on the math 168 hours would mean that you were playing music non stop for 24 hours everyday. That can't be correct right? When they say # of hours they mean # of hours on the job. I'm not sure what would count in this particular case but I would say include hours of your music practice and actual performance. In any case 168 hours a week would be a stretch.

 

[guitarman]

So just on the math 168 hours would mean that you were playing music non stop for 24 hours everyday. That can't be correct right? When they say # of hours they mean # of hours on the job. I'm not sure what would count in this particular case but I would say include hours of your music practice and actual performance. In any case 168 hours a week would be a stretch.

No of course I wasn't playing music non-stop 24 hours a day. But when you're not playing you're still away from home, traveling from city to city, and on call 24/7. Even days off are usually spent traveling, and we're paid for that time.

Sample itinerary from two days of a tour in March. The concerts are only 1.5 hours, but the travel, sound check, and travel all adds up. I think I had 5 hours to myself in a 24 hour period, from 1AM to 6:30AM.

Depending on the tour it might be like this six or seven days in a row before an actual day off.

LOBBY CALL - EVERYONE 11:30 AM
BAND/CREW DRIVE TO ALEXANDRIA, VA - 42 MILES / 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM
LOAD IN 1:00 PM
BAND SOUND CHECK 2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
SUPPORT SOUND CHECK 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
DOORS 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
DINNER 6:00 PM
SUPPORT SHOWTIME 7:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Band SHOWTIME 8:20 PM - 9:50 PM
CURFEW 12:00 AM
Arrive at hotel: 1AM

LOBBY CALL - 6:45 AM
Band Drive to Airport for 8:45 AM Flight
Arrive in Austin 11:45
Arrive at hotel: 1PM
LOBBY CALL - BAND/CREW 1:30 PM
LOAD IN 2:00 PM
BAND SOUND CHECK 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
BAND SOUND CHECK 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
DOORS 1 6:30 PM
SHOWTIME 1 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
DOORS 2 9:00 PM
SHOWTIME 2 9:30 PM - 10:45 PM
Arrive back at hotel: 1AM

Lobby Call: 10AM

 

[guitarman]

Bump - any info anyone?

 

[scylla]

No of course I wasn't playing music non-stop 24 hours a day. But when you're not playing you're still away from home, traveling from city to city, and on call 24/7. Even days off are usually spent traveling, and we're paid for that time.

Sample itinerary from two days of a tour in March. The concerts are only 1.5 hours, but the travel, sound check, and travel all adds up. I think I had 5 hours to myself in a 24 hour period, from 1AM to 6:30AM.

Depending on the tour it might be like this six or seven days in a row before an actual day off.

LOBBY CALL - EVERYONE 11:30 AM
BAND/CREW DRIVE TO ALEXANDRIA, VA - 42 MILES / 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM
LOAD IN 1:00 PM
BAND SOUND CHECK 2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
SUPPORT SOUND CHECK 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
DOORS 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
DINNER 6:00 PM
SUPPORT SHOWTIME 7:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Band SHOWTIME 8:20 PM - 9:50 PM
CURFEW 12:00 AM
Arrive at hotel: 1AM

LOBBY CALL - 6:45 AM
Band Drive to Airport for 8:45 AM Flight
Arrive in Austin 11:45
Arrive at hotel: 1PM
LOBBY CALL - BAND/CREW 1:30 PM
LOAD IN 2:00 PM
BAND SOUND CHECK 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
BAND SOUND CHECK 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
DOORS 1 6:30 PM
SHOWTIME 1 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
DOORS 2 9:00 PM
SHOWTIME 2 9:30 PM - 10:45 PM
Arrive back at hotel: 1AM

Lobby Call: 10AM

This is how you calculate work experience:
- Each week you worked full time is counted as 1 week of work experience
- For each part time week (i.e. less than 30 hours), add up the hours and divide by 30
- Add up the two totals above to figure out your years of work experience for PR.

Each week you worked full time will only count as 1 week of work experience towards PR no matter how many hours you worked. So provided you worked at least 30 hours in that week - that week counts as 1 week. So 1 week on tour = 1 week of work experience. The hours are irrelevant. Hours only become truly relevant once you have part time work.

Many people work a lot more than 30 hours per week - this isn't unique to your industry. I work for a large employer (multinational bank). I'm in the office by 7:30 and usually leave around 5:45. I then do additional work from home each evening and also several hours on the weekends (sometimes all day depending on what's going on). My hours per week are well (WELL) above 30. However from a work experience perspective, it would still only count as 1 week for immigration purposes. I travel for work as well often leaving on very early morning flight and returning late at night. Calculation is still the same.

Hope that helps.

 

[guitarman]

This is how you calculate work experience:
- Each week you worked full time is counted as 1 week of work experience
- For each part time week (i.e. less than 30 hours), add up the hours and divide by 30
- Add up the two totals above to figure out your years of work experience for PR.

Each week you worked full time will only count as 1 week of work experience towards PR no matter how many hours you worked. So provided you worked at least 30 hours in that week - that week counts as 1 week. So 1 week on tour = 1 week of work experience. The hours are irrelevant. Hours only become truly relevant once you have part time work.

Many people work a lot more than 30 hours per week - this isn't unique to your industry. I work for a large employer (multinational bank). I'm in the office by 7:30 and usually leave around 5:45. I then do additional work from home each evening and also several hours on the weekends (sometimes all day depending on what's going on). My hours per week are well (WELL) above 30. However from a work experience perspective, it would still only count as 1 week for immigration purposes. I travel for work as well often leaving on very early morning flight and returning late at night. Calculation is still the same.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the info. I think that there has to be some other explanation, perhaps related to how self-employed people calculate their hours?
I say this because I don't know of a single musician who is on tour for 52 weeks a year, which is what would be required for PR according to what you're saying here. Usually you're on tour for a few weeks, home for a few weeks, etc.